


Slept Alone Before You

by SQ (proteinscollide)



Series: Like Somebody's Shadow [2]
Category: Imaginary Heroes (2004)
Genre: Half-Sibling Incest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-23
Updated: 2007-06-23
Packaged: 2018-02-08 16:25:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1948035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/proteinscollide/pseuds/SQ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Holy fuck," Penny says. "You and Kyle. Could you be any more cliche, little brother? In love with the boy next door."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slept Alone Before You

**Author's Note:**

> Ro (littlerhymes) asked me "have you ever thought about what might have happened next" in A Song Tied To A Melody, and so here is a little coda set 10 years on.

"Holy fuck," Penny says. "You and Kyle. Could you be any more cliche, little brother? In love with the boy next door." She laughs easily, eyes crinkling at the corners, looking very much like Ben in that moment. She's holding a strip of tinsel between her teeth as she untangles its unruly ends from each other, intertwined after another year in a box in the attic. 

"Right," Tim grimaces, "I'll admit that, but you have to promise not to tell mom and B - dad. I don't want - well, mom knows about the gay thing, but d-dad will freak out all over again and god, I just want to enjoy this Christmas after driving all the way down from the next fucking country, okay?" He takes one gold sparkly tail from her and stretches it out, away from her, and she picks up the slack and works her way steadily along its length. 

"Like new," Penny says approvingly when they’re done draping the tinsel around the tree; then, "You'll give yourself away with footsies under the table anyway at dinner tonight, I bet." 

“No, I’m pretty sure I won’t,” Tim says, with the full weight of the burden he alone has to carry, but Penny just shrugs in response. Tim trusts in that sure careless gesture that she’ll keep it to herself just fine. 

It’s been ten years, but Tim is still amazed to find himself at the Travis dinner table that night surrounded by laughter and people – their family, this melting pot of family ties and secrets, neighbours and children and lovers all – and he wonders where the sad people they once were went, that silent broken family unit. But there’s no time for melancholy – Penny’s eldest crawls into his lap and asks endless questions about Canada and moose, her two younger brothers fight with plastic dinosaurs amongst the bread rolls and neglected plates while Vern enthusiastically provides a running commentary, Margie makes exasperated noises as Kyle and his step dad start having a heated argument about his current unemployment (the four hundredth round) and Ben keeps asking Tim about his work with the local orchestra with an overly concerned tone.

But only once does Tim falter. When Doug leans forward and demands of Kyle, “And what about – your mother wants grandchildren, you know,” Kyle sighs, screws up his face, and says, “It’s not gonna – you know what, it’s none of your goddamn business anyway.” He narrows his eyes, and looks mad enough to spit, mad enough to say things like the truth he doesn’t even understand the import of. They live together in a one bedroom apartment but they tell their parents they’re roommates; they’re one thing there and another here, and that’s the only thing Tim’s ever insisted on from Kyle, this one thing. Now, Tim can’t stop himself, he puts his hand on Kyle’s arm and wishes hard for him to just shut up. 

Penny catches the motion, grins across the table, and mouths _I told you so_ and in that moment Tim closes his eyes and prays like he hasn’t ever in his life that someone, something, out in the universe takes mercy on him. When he opens his eyes again, Sandy’s looking at him, her eyes sharp and suddenly pained. 

But she just says sardonically, “Please Tim, promise me you’ll never saddle me with more grandchildren. Margie, if you want them that badly, just take one of Penny’s for the afternoon and you’ll change your mind. For best results, I’d pick Joshua.” 

Margie laughs helplessly as little Josh barrels into her opens arms at the sound of his name, demanding to be hugged, and the tension in the room dissolves. Tim loosens his grip on Kyle, but he keeps his hand there for a moment, savouring the unexpected luxury. The last time they kissed was thirty hours ago, the last rest stop along the highway before their turn off; the last time they touched was twelve hours ago, when they said goodbye at the car with an almost distant hug, Tim smiling his secret smile into Kyle’s shoulder, before heading to their respective houses. 

“What are you thinking about?” Kyle asks suddenly, turning to face him, his voice low. 

Tim casts his eyes quickly over the room, but everyone is watching Josh put on his best performance ever as the adored baby of the bunch, basking in the attention. _You_ , Tim wants to say, _how lucky we are to have the best of both worlds_. 

“Just, how it feels like home, finally,” he finds himself saying, and Kyle grins like he knows, as their shoulders meet, a quick intimate knock. 

END


End file.
